Break Down
by tiffywiffyfluffykitty
Summary: Minato and Lucy lost their parents in a tragic fire and were taken in by their godfather, Jiraiya. Ten years later, the three of them moved to Magnolia where Minato is shown to be even more overprotective than usual as Lucy catches the eye of their neighbor, Natsu Dragneel. But when Minato meets Kushina, Natsu's older sister, can he bring himself to unwind and let go of his fears?
1. Chapter 1

**Yeah, I really need to work on my other fanfictions but what the heck, I'll work on this. It may be a bit OOC and it might take me a while to get on track plus I'll have a lot of errors with details and things, but I'll do my best.**

**Review please!**

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**Chapter 1 **

**Ten years ago…**

"Minato-nii!" Five-year-old Lucy called, tears sliding down her face as she huddled in the corner, clutching Plue, her stuffed animal toy. "Minato-nii!"

The flames roared hungrily, flickering up the walls. The windows shattered and she screamed with fright. Smoke drifted into her mouth and nose, making her cough.

"Lucy!" There was banging on the door. "Lucy! Are you in there?!"

"Minato-nii!" she screamed.

The door burst open and her 10 year old brother slammed into the room. Wasting no time, he scooped her up and carried her out the door and down the stairs, gritting his teeth as the heat scorched his skin. They stumbled out the front door and immediately, firemen whisked them away from the burning house.

"Minato! Lucy!" A man with long spiky white hair and red marks on his face hurried towards them. A policeman held him back. "Sir, I'm afraid I'm going to need you to stand back."

"They're my godchildren!" The man roared at the police officer and pushed through, pulling the two blond children into his arms even as paramedics tried to put oxygen masks over them.

"Jiraiya!" Minato coughed, feeling the soreness in his throat. Lucy had quieted, though tears still ran down her face. "Where's Mom and Dad?"

Jiraiya closed his eyes with anguish and held them closer, unable to speak past the lump in his throat. "I'm sorry, Minato," he eventually choked out.

Lucy stared with wide eyes, still not comprehending while her brother gritted his teeth and held her closer, tears sliding down his cheeks. He bowed his head. Lucy shook him. "Where's Mama and Papa, Minato-nii?"

But he only held her tight and didn't say anything. Lucy looked back at the burning house. "Mama! Papa!" she called.

Jiraiya took her from Minato and cradled her. "It's ok, Lucy," he soothed, but Lucy wriggled. "Where's Mama? I want Mama!"

"Mama's gone, Lucy," Minato said harshly, looking up at her with burning cerulean eyes that dripped tears. The liquid mixed with the soot streaked on his face, causing them to turn black. "Papa's gone too."

Lucy began to wail. "No! I want Mama! Mama! Papa!" She squirmed, trying to get out of Jiraiya's hold. "MAMA!"

Minato looked down. Jiraiya held her closer. "It's ok, Lucy," he whispered. "Minato's still here and so am I. We'll take care of you." He looked back at the house, which was being extinguished by the firemen. "I'll take care of them, Layla, Jude," he vowed. "I promise."

_I promise…_

* * *

**Present Day…**

"Minato!" Lucy yelled from her room. "I can't find my phone!"

"Check the back pocket of your jeans!" Minato yelled back from the kitchen.

A moment of silence, then, "Thanks!" A minute later, she came down wearing a red plaid pleated skirt with a matching bow that flared over the sand-colored sweater-vest she wore over her white blouse. She slipped her feet into brown loafers, hugged Minato while taking a square or two of the brownies that were stacked on a plate nearby, and left, yelling, "I'll see you later!"

Minato popped a piece of brownie into his mouth as well and poured himself a cup of coffee. Jiraiya stumbled down the stairs, bleary-eyed. "Is that coffee?" he mumbled. He poured himself some and dumped in sugar and milk before knocking it back. "How you two always manage to get up on time beats me."

"She just doesn't want to be late on her first day." Minato glanced over at the stacks of boxes in the living room. "Jiraiya, will you be able to handle unpacking by yourself? I have to meet Professor Tsunade at Konoha College."

"Sure, kid, knock yourself out," Jiraiya muttered. "You going to pick up Lucy?"

Minato shook his head. "She threatened to take my car keys away if I keep picking her up from school. Said something about wanting to hang out with friends."

"Made friends already?" Jiraiya asked, perking up a bit. "Any guy friends?"

Minato shot him a glare and his godfather held his hands up in surrender. "I know, I know. But you can't blame me. She's growing up."

"I know," Minato sighed. He finished his coffee and picked up his messenger bag. "I'll be home by 6, hopefully. If Lucy's not home by 5, call me immediately." With those parting words, he left.

Jiraiya sighed. "Overprotective," he muttered. Yawning, he went back up the stairs and into his own bedroom.

* * *

Lucy nervously stood by the gates of Magnolia Academy, peeking at the multitude of students who stood in the courtyard, talking to friends or finishing up what homework they didn't do over the weekend. Nearby, a group of boys were roughhousing each other, their laughter and corny taunts ringing in the air.

"Snow Cone!"

"Tabasco Sauce!"

Taking a deep breath, Lucy stepped in, only to be rammed into by one of the aforementioned boys. With a surprised shriek, she fell to the ground, her white and pink messenger bag slipping from her shoulder.

The boy groaned, sitting up. He was very handsome and looked to be only a year older than herself and wore his uniform with the shirt untucked and his red plaid tie loosened. What was most surprising about him was the shockingly pink hair that was mussed into spikes on his head and the white muffler around his neck despite the heat. He hurriedly stood and stretched out a hand to her. "Sorry about that," he grinned sheepishly. "You ok?"

Nodding silently, Lucy put her hand in his and allowed him to pull her up. She brushed off her uniform as the boy picked up her bag and handed it to her. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"No problem." He peered closely at her. "Hey, I've never seen you here before. You new?"

"Y-Yeah. I moved in here two days ago."

"Huh." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Natsu Dragneel."

Lucy took it again, noticing this time that it was unusually warm and firm. "Lucy Heartfilia-Namikaze."

"Long name." One of his pink eyebrows kicked up.

"My mom's maiden name was Namikaze."

"Oh." He scratched his head. "Well, my sis also has a long name so it doesn't matter, I guess."

"You have a sister?" Lucy asked, a little curious.

"Yeah. Two. What about you?"

"I have an older brother, Minato Heartfilia-Namikaze. He goes to Konoha College."

"Hey, my sis goes there too!" Natsu grinned at her, a full-toothed grin that made Lucy's heart skip a beat. "Her name's Kushina."

"That's a nice name." Lucy smiled back.

"Oi, Flaming Panties, how long are you gonna take?" one of the boys called.

"Shut up, Underwear Princess!" Natsu called back in an annoyed tone. He turned back to Lucy. "See you, Lucy." He flashed another grin at her before going back to his group of friends. A second later, Lucy could hear them bantering again. With a small grin on her face, she headed inside the school.


	2. Chapter 2

**I decided to call this fanfiction Break Down for a reason that has to do with this story, but no spoilers yet. the more interesting stuff happens in the next chapter, but I hope you like this one! Review please!**

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**Chapter 2**

Minato jumped slightly when he felt his phone vibrate briefly in his pocket. He quietly pulled it out and tapped on the screen to see that he'd gotten a text message from Jiraiya. Apparently his godfather had finished unpacking and setting up the house and was off to get some drinks. Minato frowned. He'd wanted Jiraiya to be there when Lucy got home.

He looked up at Professor Tsunade, who had a diagram of the heart tacked on the board and was talking about heart diseases. He jotted down some notes then looked around.

About twenty students were avidly listening as Tsunade talked on. One of them in particular caught his eye. She was a young woman at least a year younger than him with eyes a strange color of gray-violet, skin even paler than Lucy's, and red hair a deep shade of crimson. Right now, her coral pink lips were twisted in a slight frown as she nibbled on the end of her pen.

Minato looked back at the board, but almost immediately, his eyes flickered back to her. As soon as he did, the bells in the bell tower above the college library chimed for three o'clock.

"I want three chapters on heart diseases done tonight with a full length essay on what you've read!" Tsunade called.

He quickly packed his things and in his haste, accidentally dropped his pen. Before he could reach it, however, a slender hand had reached it first. He looked up in surprise.

A girl with long dark hair and equally dark eyes was standing in front of his desk, holding his pen. "Here, you dropped this."

"Thanks." Minato took it and shoved it into his bag. The girl nodded with a quick smile and hurried to the door, where the redheaded girl Minato was staring at was waiting. Her eyes flickered up to his before she pushed open the door and slipped out.

Now the only student left in the room, Minato quickly left and found himself in a near-empty hallway. He exited the building and leaned against the cool brick wall, taking out his phone and typing a quick message to Jiraiya warning him that he better be at home by 5 so that Lucy wouldn't arrive home alone. He put his phone back in his pocket and left for his next class.

* * *

School was over. Lucy sighed with relief as she stood up, cracking her stiff fingers. As she did so, a small blue-haired girl sidled over to her, a wide grin on her face. "So, Lu-chan, what did you think of your first day?"

It was Levy McGarden, a girl Lucy had met on Saturday after Jiraiya had sent her to the store for cleaning supplies. The two had instantly hit it off and had promised to see each other at school.

"Great so far," Lucy admitted honestly. "It's great to see you're in most of my classes."

"Same here! I thought I was going to be stuck with Jet and Droy forever in Orochimaru's Biology class! Not that they're bad friends, it's just that they're a little clingy." Both girls shot glances at the two boys, both of whom are arguing once again over who would date Levy.

"I met someone called Natsu Dragneel today," Lucy said casually, putting her pencil case inside her bag.

Levy's eyes widened. "Natsu Dragneel? He's one of the most popular boys in school!"

"Really? Better not tell my brother. He gets a little…overprotective." Lucy rolled her eyes, but her smile held only fondness for Minato.

"Sure." The two girls left the room and out the school. Lucy checked her watch. "It's 3:37 right now. I have to get home at 5 or Minato's going to freak."

"Then do you want to go eat? There's a cute café a few blocks from here. It's really popular with girls and their strawberry cakes are amazing!" Levy squinted a little as a car ran past, the flash of sunlight reflecting off the windshield and beaming into her eyes for a quick second.

"Strawberry cake?" They turned to see a tall redheaded girl with large cocoa brown eyes standing behind them. She was holding hands with an even taller boy with cerulean blue hair, emerald green eyes, and a strange red tattoo over the right side of his face.

"Hey Erza, Jellal," Levy greeted. She gestured at Lucy. "This is Lucy Heartfilia-Namikaze. She's a new student and my new best friend."

Erza formally held out her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Lucy. I'm Erza Scarlet. This is my boyfriend, Jellal Fernandes." He inclined his head mutely, green eyes inscrutable.

Lucy shook Erza's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Erza."

"Do you want to come with us? We're going to get strawberry cake at The Trimens Café," Levy invited.

Jellal's face abruptly darkened and Erza shivered. "As much as I would like to, I'll have to decline."

"Oh. Ichiya, right?" Levy asked grimly.

"Who's Ichiya?" Lucy asked, confused.

"The owner of the café," Levy whispered. "He's a little weird… even more so to Erza."

Lucy sweatdropped. "I'm not sure I want to go there now…" She suddenly screamed with surprise as someone poked her sides. Loud boisterous laughter rung out as Natsu revealed himself to be the culprit. Lucy's face turned red. "Natsu!" she yelled.

The pink-haired boy raised his hands. "Sorry." But a large grin still adorned his face. "Hey, Lucy."

A good-looking dark haired boy strolled over to them. He wore his shirt unbuttoned, showing off his perfect abs and chest. A silver necklace with a sword-shaped pendant reflected the sunlight as it rested on his chest. Lucy blushed even harder as she stared at him. One of the boy's eyebrows kicked up at her red face. "Hey. I'm Gray Fullbuster." He waved a little, then returned his hand to his pocket.

"L-Lucy Heartfilia-Namikaze," Lucy whispered, cheeks still a rich shade of fuchsia. Next to her, Natsu frowned. "Oi, Stripper, button up, will ya?"

Gray looked down and jumped with surprise. "Whoa! When did this happen? Sorry, Lucy!" He turned away and quickly buttoned up his shirt.

Erza sighed. "Make sure it doesn't happen again, Gray," she warned sternly.

Lucy's phone chimed. She pulled it out. "Oh! It's Jiraiya." As she read the text message, she sighed. "He wants me to go home early," she grumbled.

"Who's Jiraiya?" Gray asked.

"My godfather. He's taking care of me and Minato when…" Lucy trailed off, her eyes momentarily turning blank. She recovered a few seconds later and gave them all a brilliant smile. "He's just my guardian."

"I see," Erza said cautiously. All of them had noticed when Lucy had abruptly wandered off for a moment, but none chose to comment about it. "If he's telling you to go home early, you probably should."

"Yeah, I guess so… I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Lucy said, a large smile on her face. The others chorused their goodbyes and watched as she left.

"She's a nice girl," Erza said, a pleased smile on her face. Levy nodded happily.

* * *

"Jiraiya! What do you need me home so early for?" Lucy called as she entered the house. She glanced at the oven clock to see that it was 4:32. "It's not even 5 yet!"

But the house was empty. Annoyed, Lucy kicked off her shoes and stomped upstairs to her room. She opened the door and cried out with surprise as a white Labrador puppy jumped at her, yapping happily.

"Surprise!" Jiraiya laughed from where he sat on her desk chair. "Saw him in a pet shop on my way to the bar and thought you might like him."

"He's gorgeous!" Lucy squealed happily, hugging the puppy tightly as he licked her cheek frantically. "Thank you!"

"What're you going to name him?"

"Plue," Lucy grinned as she knelt on the ground. "Definitely Plue."

Plue yapped and bolted out the door. Lucy followed him and found two dog bowls, a plain blue leash and collar, and a bag of dog food resting on the counter. "You hungry, boy?" she cooed.

Her puppy yapped and Lucy poured out some puppy chow in one silver bowl and filled the other with water. Plue ate a little, but immediately bounded up again, snagging the collar and leash.

"Looks like he wants to take a walk," Jiraiya said, coming down the stairs. "Well, I'll be out for a few hours. Don't go too far, ok?"

"Alright! What do you want for dinner?" Lucy asked. She usually took over the cooking duties since Jiraiya always managed to burn something and Minato never really had time to cook anymore.

"Some of your spicy chicken curry would be fine." Jiraiya grinned and left with a short salute in Lucy's direction.

Plue barked again and Lucy patted his head. "Just let me change into something else first." She dashed up the stairs and shucked off her uniform, pulling on a loose white shirt with a quote from one of her favorite books on it and shorts and sliding her feet into flats. She shoved her wallet, phone, and keys into her pockets and went back downstairs. After Plue's collar and leash was clipped on, Lucy led the way out the door, locking it after her.

Plue was excitedly sniffing at everything he could reach. Lucy had had to pull him back several times as they left the front yard, in which was filled with black garbage bags and stacks of old cardboard boxes tied with twine.

Finally, they managed to make it out of the front yard. As Lucy tugged Plue towards the direction of the local supermarket, she stopped as someone said her name.

"Lucy?"

She turned.

"Natsu?!"


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter was actually longer than it was supposed to be, but I extended it because of several things I wanted to add in. I hope you guys could see the overprotectiveness in big brother Minato at the end of the chapter. And yes, I did make him irritated at Kushina for a reason. I did mention it will be OOC a little.**

**Anyhoo, this chapter focuses on the beginning of NaLu and the start of Minato's troubles! Please review! :D **

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**Chapter 3**

Natsu Dragneel was standing behind her, a little girl with blue hair by his side who looked to be about twelve years old. "Lucy, you live here?" He pointed at her house.

"Yeah," she said, surprised.

Another full-toothed grin stretched over Natsu's face delightedly. "Cool! I live here." He pointed to the house right next to hers. "We're neighbors!"

Lucy grinned as Plue sniffed at Natsu's pants. "That's great!" She'd already taken a liking to the pink-haired boy and, truth be told, did find him to be rather cute. None of the boys back in her hometown were as good-looking as him or Gray. "Who's this?" she asked, indicating the little blue-haired girl.

"This is Wendy, my little sis." Natsu nudged the little girl affectionately.

Wendy stepped forward and bowed formally. "It's nice to meet you, Lucy," she said politely.

"No need to be so polite. Call me Lucy," the other girl said warmly. "Let's be friends."

Wendy blushed a little and smiled. "Is that your dog?"

"Plue? Yeah, I just got him. My godfather, Jiraiya, got him for me." Lucy grinned again as Plue barked.

"Where're you going, Lucy?" Natsu asked.

"To the store. I'm making spicy chicken curry for tonight's dinner..." Lucy stopped talking as she saw Natsu's eyes begin to shine.

Wendy giggled. "Natsu-nii loves spicy food. He always begs Mom to make it, but Kushina-nee and I can't eat a lot of it."

"Actually Kushina ate almost as much as I did," Natsu corrected his little sister. "Only you and Mom can't eat a lot."

"No, Kushina-nee actually pushed away her plate the last time Mom made that spicy Chinese tofu and you ate all of it!"

"That was cause she was sick that day! Besides, that's three months ago!"

"What about the soup Mikoto-san brought over?"

"It was mild! It could hardly be called spicy!"

Lucy laughed as she watched the two of them argue. It actually reminded her of herself and Minato. "Well, I've got to go now. I'll see you around?"

The siblings looked up. "Let me go with you!" Natsu said enthusiastically.

She blinked with surprise. "What?"

"Aw come on, I don't have homework and I need to buy some stuff too. Come on, Luce. Please?" he pleaded, eyes widening slightly in a beseeching way.

"Well, if you want… But I have lots of stuff to buy and I need to walk Plue."

"I'll take him if you want," Wendy said, smiling.

"Thanks," Lucy said gratefully. She checked the time on her phone. "We should get going now. Minato's coming home at 6 so I need time to prepare."

"Alright." Natsu gave Wendy his bag to carry inside. "And if Mom's at home by now, tell her where I went."

"I will." So saying, Wendy turned and entered the front yard of her house, Plue trotting after her.

"She's a sweet girl," Lucy commented as she and Natsu strolled down the block.

"Yeah. She and Kushina are the best," Natsu said happily. "What about you?"

"Minato?" Lucy laughed lightly. "He's overprotective sometimes, but I know he loves me and I love him too." Her smile widened a little. "He saved my life twice."

"How'd that happen?"

She shook her head. "That's not important right now. So… tell me about yourself."

Natsu laughed. "What do you wanna know?"

"Hmm… How old are you?"

"15," he answered promptly.

Lucy's mouth dropped open slightly. "No way, you're the same age as I am! I thought you were 16 or something!"

Natsu looked a little smug. "Nope. Not until summer."

"Huh, same here. I was born on July 1."

"My birthday's June 21 so that's why my old man gave me this name."

"Nice."

"I guess. What else you wanna know?"

"Well… tell me about your family, I guess."

"There's not much, really. Grandine's a doctor at Konoha Medical Center at the college and she's best friends with the head professor there so they made that lady mine and Wendy's godmother, Igneel's a firefighter, Wendy's in middle school, and Kushina's studying to be a doctor with my godmother. She's not my real sister, cause Grandine and Igneel adopted her and she kept her last name so she's Kushina Uzumaki, not Kushina Dragneel."

"Her name's not that long," Lucy said. "You said that she has a long name, but it's not as long as mine. And you call your parents by their first name?"

"It's long to me and we've been doing that for our whole lives," Natsu replied nonchalantly. "So what about your family?"

Lucy's mouth twisted downward. "Jiraiya's been taking care of me for ten years now. He's the author of the Icha Icha Paradise books so we're pretty ok, since it's such a bestseller. Minato's studying to be a doctor too, and I want to be an author."

"What about your parents?"

Her mouth pressed into a thin line and she didn't say anything. After a while, Natsu seemed to get the message and changed the subject. "The store's down this street." He turned the corner.

"I know. I've been there on Saturday. I met Levy-chan there too." They stopped in front of a grocery store and went in. Lucy snagged a cart and pushed it down the first aisle, immediately going to the fruit section.

Natsu wrinkled his nose slightly. "Why fruit?"

"Fruit is good for you," Lucy said absently, picking up several apples and examining them. "And since it's going to get cold soon, it's good to build up your immune system." She put the apples in a plastic bag from the dispenser and placed them in the cart before moving on to the vegetables.

"So Luce, why'd you move here?"

Lucy smiled a little. "Jiraiya likes to wander around a lot. He calls himself a 'free spirit' or something. We actually lived in about four other cities before Magnolia."

Natsu raised his eyebrows. "That's a lot."

"I know, right? Anyway, I don't think we'll be moving anymore. Minato's decided he wants to stay at Konoha College and Jiraiya found out his old crush or something teaches there, plus I'm tired of moving around, so we decided that we're going to stay here." Lucy wandered over to the meat section and examined packages of chicken pieces.

Natsu snagged two large bags of Doritos and a bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos and put them in the cart, then grabbed a six-pack of Coke. He disappeared down the frozen foods section and came back with boxes of ice cream. At Lucy's look, he shrugged. "My family likes junk food."

She sighed, then reached around him for another two bags of Doritos. "So does mine," she said, a small smile. "Do you usually go grocery shopping?"

"Nah. Kushina or Mom does it most of the time, but when the ramen or spicy snacks run out, I go buy some." Natsu disappeared again down an aisle a little farther down the store as Lucy went around the store, piling up the cart with whatever she needed or wanted.

She found Natsu in the same aisle he'd disappeared down in ten minutes later, but he wasn't alone. Instead, he was accompanied by a taller young woman with long red hair flowing down nearly to her knees and who was carrying her own basket of groceries. As Lucy pushed the full cart towards them, the two looked up.

"Hey, Luce!" Natsu said, grinning. He threw bags of cat food onto the cart and gestured at the woman. "This is my sis, Kushina."

"Hello," the woman said, a smile on her face.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kushina-san," Lucy said politely.

Kushina waved a casual hand at her, "No need to be so polite. Yeesh, you make me feel old, calling me that. Call me Kushina, 'ttebane."

Lucy smiled more broadly. "Ok… Kushina."

"Are you buying all that?" Natsu asked her, eyeing the huge amount of food in the cart.

"Not all of it is mine. You have three bags of chips, five boxes of ice cream sandwiches, and a pack of Coke that are yours. Plus those three bags of cat food." Lucy ticked off the items on her fingers as she spoke.

"Did I get fish?" Natsu demanded.

She blinked. "No. Why?"

"Just wait here!" Then he bolted off into the store.

"But I have fish right here!" she called after him.

"He means fish for Happy," Kushina explained, tucking a strand of red hair behind her ear.

"Who's Happy?"

"Happy's his cat. Natsu found a stray wandering around one day in the rain and took it in, the poor thing. I'll show you a picture." Kushina dug around her pocket and pulled out a smartphone. After tapping the screen several times, she produced a picture of a blue cat curled up next to a white cat. "Happy's the blue cat. Don't ask me why he's blue; Natsu found him like that when he took him in, 'ttebane."

"Who's the white cat? Is he yours?"

"_She_ belongs to Wendy. Her name's Carla." Kushina put her phone back in her pocket as Natsu ran up with a large whole salmon cradled in his arms. "What took you so long?" she scolded her younger brother.

"Sorry. The guy took forever." He heaved the salmon onto the full cart. "Let's go pay for this."

* * *

Lucy and Natsu and Lucy's groceries all hitched a ride in Kushina's car, a silver Honda Civic. The three of them had all bought so much that half the items had to ride in the backseat with Lucy. Natsu had decided to sit in front with Kushina.

As they pulled up in front of Lucy's house, a sleek black Audi was pulling up into the driveway. The driver's door opened and Minato stepped out. He frowned with puzzlement as Lucy jumped out of Kushina's car. "Lucy?" he called.

"Hi, Minato!" she called as she went to the back of the car. Natsu had already popped the trunk and was picking up the bags. "Do you mind opening the door? I bought groceries."

He continued to frown a little, but did as she asked, holding the door open as Lucy dashed in with the first of the white bags. She came out a few seconds later. "Minato, this is Natsu Dragneel, my classmate, and his sister, Kushina Uzumaki." The two of them nodded as Lucy pointed to them.

"Hey, I know you!" Kushina suddenly yelled, pointing at Minato. "You're that flaky boy in Tsunade's class!"

Minato felt a vein pop on his forehead. "_Flaky boy_?" he repeated incredulously.

"Yeah, you look like a girl!"

Natsu suddenly snorted with laughter and Lucy suppressed a smile as she rushed back inside the house with another load of groceries.

Minato's mouth twisted as the two teenagers ran out of the house again. He kept his eyes trained on Natsu as the boy said something to Lucy, causing her to erupt in peals of laughter.

"Didn't know you lived next door, 'ttebane," Kushina said, grabbing her own bags.

"Me neither," Minato replied coolly, already feeling prickles of annoyance towards her.

"Huh, what's a flaky boy like you doing here?"

"Don't call me a flaky boy." He stared at Natsu again as he and Lucy dashed back and forth, carrying the white bags with the grocery store logo on it.

When they were done, a young girl with long blue hair came over with a white cat in her arms and a white puppy at her feet. The puppy strained at the leash and yelped at Lucy, who laughed again and took him from the girl. "This is Plue," she told her brother. "Jiraiya got him for me after school."

Minato looked doubtfully at the puppy, but Plue whined a little and sniffed his pants and he smiled. "Plue. Just like that stuffed animal you used to have." He grinned and knelt down to rub the dog's ears. "You can keep him."

"I was going to keep him anyway," Lucy said, but she was smiling.

He stood back up. "Who's this?" he asked, indicating the little girl.

"That's my other sis, Wendy," Natsu said. Kushina had gone over to stand with Wendy and the cat was sniffing at her.

Minato's eyes flashed a little when he looked at Natsu and the other boy gulped. His eyes had turned to chips of blue ice. "I see. It's nice to meet you… Natsu."

Lucy groaned and bumped Minato with her shoulder. "Be nice!" she hissed. "They're our neighbors!" She turned to Natsu, Wendy, and Kushina with a bright smile. "Thanks for helping me today," she said gratefully. "If your parents don't mind, would you like to come over for dinner?"

Minato widened his eyes at her slightly in a warning, but she ignored him. Kushina laughed a little, seeing the motion, and the blond man felt another flash of annoyance.

Natsu was grinning. "Sure, Luce! I'll go ask now!" He turned and bounded away, Wendy trailing after him with a smile back at Lucy and Minato. Kushina pressed a button, locking the car, then turned and went into the next door house with an ironic salute back at Minato.

He sighed as he and Lucy went into the house. "Lucy…"

"Come on, Minato! He's not bad at all!" She unclipped the leash from Plue's collar and went into the kitchen to sort the groceries. "And neither are Kushina nor Wendy." She recounted her conversations with the three siblings and the background information that Natsu shared with her.

But Minato still looked doubtful. "Are you sure? I don't want you to get hurt."

Lucy bit her lip. She knew what he meant. "This time will be different," she said firmly. "Besides, he's just a friend."

But he frowned. "All the same." As he headed up to his room, he muttered under his breath, "He won't get close to Lucy. I'll make sure of that."


	4. Chapter 4

**I changed the ending because it looked weird, but I don't think anyone will notice lol Review anyway!**

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**Chapter 4**

Natsu and his sisters showed up at Lucy's door ten minutes later, big smiles on their faces. Minato had answered the door and he'd purposely avoided eye contact with Kushina. For some reason, that woman annoyed him to no end.

As Wendy remained in the living room sipping a glass of juice and watching television, Natsu followed Lucy into the kitchen and started a conversation with her about school. Minato, who was about to follow him, was stopped by Kushina.

"Where you going?" she asked from where she was sitting next to Wendy and reading a magazine that was lying on the coffee table. Minato recognized it as one of the teen magazines that Lucy orders.

"To the kitchen," he said, one ear still straining to listen to Lucy and Natsu's conversation.

"What for? They're not gonna do anything," she snorted, closing the magazine and tossing it casually onto the table. She turned and stared at the television.

Minato exhaled in a sharp huff. "I was going to get you something to drink," he lied.

"Oh. Well, then water is fine." Kushina turned back to the TV as Minato stalked into the kitchen.

Lucy was chopping the vegetables when he walked in. Natsu was leaning against the island, telling her about a person named Gray and how he and this other person named Gajeel got into a fight with some people from Sabertooth High. He stopped talking and Minato strode in and poured water into a blue mug. "Give this to your sister," he said, thrusting it at Natsu, who gave him a strange look before leaving the kitchen area.

Minato sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. "She is so annoying," he muttered.

"Kushina?" his sister asked.

"Yeah. You need any help? It's been a while since I cooked," Minato said, looking for an excuse to get away from Kushina and to stay in the kitchen where he could keep an eye on Natsu.

Lucy gave him a slightly frustrated look, guessing his intentions. "You can start with the chicken," she said shortly. "I need to clean them."

Minato rolled up his sleeves as Natsu reentered the kitchen. The pink-haired boy gave Minato another glance before standing against the counter as before, although he didn't lean against it. His body was slightly tense.

Lucy rolled her eyes, giving Minato another frustrated glance, before saying to Natsu, "So tell me more about Gray."

"What's so good about that Stripper?" Natsu snorted. He suddenly gave her a suspicious look. "Do you _like_ him?"

Minato's ears perked up as he continued to scrub at the chicken under the running faucet.

Lucy laughed. "No! Of course not!"

"Oh. Good. Cause if you do, you're going to get beaten up or something by this girl who has a huge crush on him and wants to be his girlfriend. Her name's Juvia and be careful around her cause she thinks everyone but Erza's trying to steal him from her."

"She sounds _way_ too clingy."

"Speaking of girlfriends," Minato cut in as he put all the pieces of chicken into a bowl and turned around to wipe his wet hands with a paper towel. "Do you have a girlfriend?" He studiously ignored Lucy's angry look, continuing to stare at Natsu.

The boy shook his head. "Nope, but everyone says I should go out with my friend Lisanna Strauss. But she's studying overseas." His black eyes suddenly took on a challenging look. "So what about you?" he asked boldly. "You have a girl?"

Lucy groaned and threw up her hands, muttering, "Boys." Both males ignored her.

Minato smirked and crossed his arms. "And what if I do?"

"Minato!" Lucy said loudly. "Enough!" She turned to Natsu. "I'm sorry, he's usually not like this."

"It's ok." But Natsu's stare was still slightly confrontational.

Minato handed Lucy the bowl of chicken. "Make sure he behaves himself or he won't be allowed here again," he muttered.

"It's your fault in the first place," she hissed back, setting the bowl down on the counter.

"All the same, he should mind his manners."

"Speak for yourself!"

He gave her a hard look, warning her that she was going a little too far. "You think I'm going to back away after what happened between you and Bora?" he growled.

Lucy flinched a little and her eyes dropped as she remembered. "He's not like that…," she mumbled.

"You don't know that yet." Minato put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't want something like that to happen to you ever again. We were both lucky I got there in time, but sometimes luck can run out."

"I know, but please trust me on this; Natsu is different. And like I said, we're _just friends_."

He stared at her for a long minute and sighed. "Alright, but I'm watching him," he warned.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Aren't you always." She handed Minato a stack of plates. "Go set the table."

He took the plates and left, not looking at Natsu, who stepped forward after Minato left. "What was that all about?"

"You heard?" Lucy asked.

"A little," he admitted. His eyes were curious and a little angry. "Did something happen to you before you moved here?"

She turned away. "It's not something I want to talk about right now." She smiled thinly and gestured at a drawer. "Can you do me a favor and get Minato the silverware?"

"Sure, Lucy." He opened the drawer and reached in, picking up handfuls of the clinking utensils. After he left, Lucy looked out the kitchen window and sucked in a deep breath. She turned as someone knocked.

Kushina was standing against the wall divider that separated the kitchen from the living room, holding the blue mug in one hand and Wendy's glass of juice in the other. "I was just wondering where I should put these, 'ttebane."

"Oh, just put them in the sink. I'll wash them later." Lucy turned back and began chopping the potatoes.

"Need help?" Kushina asked.

"No, it's alright. I can manage."

"Oh come on. Wendy's watching cartoons again and I've got nothing better to do."

"Well, um, I guess you can finish chopping the potatoes. I need to start cooking anyway." Lucy put a large saucepan over the stove and turned on the heat before adding butter.

Kushina took her place at the chopping board. "Hey, Lucy?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think your brother hates me?" she asked.

Lucy's eyebrows rose with astonishment. "No."

"Hm. Well, he's a little… unwelcoming towards me so I thought he hated me, 'ttebane." Kushina shrugged. "Oh well. Where should I put these?"

"In the large white bowl. The one with the blue flower print on the side."

"Okay."

The two girls worked in silence until Minato and Natsu walked back in. "What're you doing here?" Natsu asked his sister.

"Helping out. How's Wendy?"

"Plue's with her."

"Lucy, you forgot the onions," Minato said.

She clapped a hand to her forehead. "Oh no!" She turned off the fire and hurriedly grabbed the onions. "Can someone get me a knife?"

Minato nudged her aside. "It's alright. I got this. You take forever when it comes to onions."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Onions make you cry too."

"Not as much as you do." He deftly peeled back the skin and quickly began slicing. His eyes watered, but the tears didn't fall. After he was done, he dabbed at his eyes with his sleeve.

Kushina gave him an amused look as he walked past her, but he ignored her. "Anything else you want me to do?" he asked Lucy.

"Call Jiraiya and tell him we have guests for dinner. Natsu, are your parents coming?"

"Nope. They didn't want to be a bother or something like that." He wrinkled his nose at the smell of raw onions that now permeated the air. "I'm gonna go to the living room."

As he left the kitchen, Kushina laughed a little. "Natsu has a sensitive nose," she told Lucy. "When he was younger, I used to prank him by putting smelly stuff under his nose while he sleeps. You should've heard him yell as he wakes up."

Lucy grinned as she poured the chopped onions into a separate hot skillet, causing them to sizzle. "I tried to prank Minato several times, but he's always managed to evade them. I don't even know how he does it."

"It's because I'm awesome," Minato said, pulling out his phone. "I'll tell Jiraiya he needs to be home in an hour. _Sober."_

"And no random girls that he picked up either!" Lucy called. She turned to Kushina. "Jiraiya's a _huge_ pervert." She rolled her eyes. "I think I'm the only girl who's ever safe from him. Well, me and all girls under the age of 15. He's not a pedophile."

"That's good to hear." Natsu had returned to the kitchen and he was hiding something behind his back. "I found this in the small bathroom in the hallway." He held up an erotic magazine.

"Ugh! I told him not to put those things everywhere!" Lucy snatched the magazine away and threw it in the trash. "Good thing Jiraiya didn't pollute Minato's brain with all those images." She washed her hands and returned to the stove, pouring in the coconut milk. Returning to the onions, she added in the chicken and garlic.

"I'm hungry," Natsu said, watching her cook. Kushina washed her hands after finishing the potatoes and elbowed him in the ribs. "Hey, what was that for!"

She grinned and wagged her eyebrows. "You like her," she whispered.

Natsu colored slightly. "No I don't! I've only known her for a day!"

Kushina scoffed. "Can't hide it from me, little bro. Come on she's cute, smart, a good cook…"

He shook his head at her. "You're crazy. Lucy's a friend."

His sister rolled her eyes. "Denial, Natsu, is the first sign."

"Okay, she's… pretty, alright?" he snapped, coloring again. "But that doesn't mean I like her!" He stomped away, leaving Kushina to stare after him with amusement.


	5. Chapter 5

**Rushed and a tad sloppy, but I hope you like this chapter. Hope it makes things a lot more interesting now that their bedroom windows are close by and believe me, this will be important in the story lol**

**You know... I still haven't come up with a set storyline yet cause it's all bits and pieces right now, but I'm mostly going to just follow through with the story of Minato and Kushina becoming a couple and Natsu and Lucy becoming a couple and Kushina being reunited with her long lost-**

**Oh no, I just gave a spoiler. EEK! But anyhoo, hope that whetted your appetite and review! **

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Jiraiya arrived home just as the curry was finished. By now, the two Dragneels and the one Uzumaki sibling were sitting at the table. Minato was helping Lucy with plating.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully, a broad smile on his face.

"Hey," Natsu said. The girls waved.

"Jiraiya!" Lucy bellowed, stomping out of the kitchen. "Look what I've found today!" She dragged him into the kitchen and soon after, there was the sound of a slap. "Don't leave these lying around all the time!"

"Ow! Hey, you owe me a magazine! That was the latest issue!"

"Leave it in your room next time or I'm canceling your subscriptions!"

Minato sighed as he came out bearing plates of curry smothered over a bed of rice. "Time for dinner, you two!" he called. He set the plates in front of Wendy and Kushina first before heading back in the kitchen.

Jiraiya sat down at the head of the dining table with his own plate. He appraised Natsu as Lucy sat down next to him, then a large grin, one that Lucy knew very well by now, flashed over his face.

She glared at him. "No, he's not my boyfriend and we will talk later. And not _that_ talk!"

Minato sat next to Wendy, across from his sister. "Maybe we should have _that_ talk later as well."

"What're you talking about?" Natsu asked, confused.

Lucy flushed a dull red and stared determinedly at her plate, refusing to make eye contact.

Kushina sniggered. Jiraiya smiled at her from where she sat across the table from him. "I take it you're Wendy?"

"No! I'm Kushina, 'ttebane!"

"I'm Wendy," Wendy said shyly, a smile on her face.

"And I'm Natsu!" the pink-haired boy exclaimed.

Jiraiya grinned. "So you're the one who made this little social outcast invite you over." He nudged Lucy. "I was beginning to think she was turning asexual, what with all the minimal contact she's going through."

"Jiraiya!" Lucy whined.

Minato's eyes flicked up, holding Jiraiya's own for a few seconds before they dropped again back to his own plate. Jiraiya cleared his throat. "Well, it is nice to see you. These two hardly ever made friends."

"That's because we kept moving around," Minato put in lightly. He took a bite of his curry.

Down the table, Kushina lightly coughed and thumped her chest. "Wow. Spicy."

"It's really good!" Natsu said enthusiastically. He was already halfway done.

Wendy nodded, smiling. "It's delicious, Lucy."

"Thanks," Lucy replied. "Kushina, do you want anything to drink?"

"Water, please."

As Lucy disappeared into the kitchen, Jiraiya said to Natsu, "So how did you and Lucy meet?"

Minato's eyes shot to him again and remained there.

"He was horsing around with his friends and crashed into me," Lucy said, coming back in, a glass of water in her hand, which she passed to Kushina. "Then after you left, we found out we were neighbors and voila, here we are."

Jiraiya frowned. "That's not a lot to go by." But he caught Minato's look and dropped the subject. "So, how's Tsunade doing?" he asked him.

"How do you know Tsunade?" Natsu demanded.

Jiraiya raised his brows. "She was my childhood crush."

Natsu's mouth dropped. "She's my godmother. Mine and Wendy's."

Jiraiya's brows rose even higher. "Wow. Who would've thought."

"And she's my college professor," Kushina cut in. "And Minato's too."

"Small world," Lucy said dryly.

Minato chuckled and rose to take Natsu's empty plate. "Seconds?"

"Yeah!" At Kushina's look, Natsu hastily added, "Please!"

After that, dinner passed by in a blur of laughter, voices, and plates of spicy curry. Kushina and Lucy talked a lot while Wendy amused herself by listening to the males. Minato, Natsu, and Jiraiya were cracking jokes and swapped stories that they kept PG, so as to not corrupt Wendy's innocent mind. Minato always glared at Jiraiya whenever conversation started to wander dangerously to the rated R and Jiraiya heeded his warnings, as he and Minato were steadily growing fond of the little blue-haired girl who listened to their stories with rapt attention and awed face.

When dinner was finished, Lucy and Kushina continued their conversation in the kitchen as Lucy washed the dishes and Kushina dried them while the boys and Wendy feasted on ice cream and continued to talk. When Wendy fell asleep, Natsu and Kushina stood to leave.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Lucy asked.

Natsu grinned brightly. "Sure!"

"Come over to our house," Kushina said, cradling Wendy. "I can never get him to wake up and I don't want you to stand in the sidewalk waiting for him."

"I'll help you wake him up if you like. Jiraiya's a late sleeper too and I've got some tricks up my sleeve." Lucy winked and Natsu sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"I'd also love for you guys to come have dinner at our house and meet our parents," Kushina continued.

Minato nodded. "That would be nice." He glanced at the wall clock. "Lucy, it's time to go to sleep."

"I'm not a child, Minato." Lucy elbowed him, but a corner of her mouth twitched.

Natsu began to back away. "Well, see you in the morning, Luce!"

"'Kay!" Lucy called back. "Bye, Kushina!"

"Bye!" Kushina smiled and turned, long hair swishing behind her, and left. Natsu held open the gate for her and closed it. The three of them watched as their neighbors arrived at their house and Jiraiya closed the door.

"Alright you two. Bedtime, now." He clapped his hands and pointed at the staircase.

Minato and Lucy rolled their eyes and raced up the stairs, trying to get to the bathroom first.

"I got here first!" Minato yelled, wedging himself into the doorway.

"Nooo!" Lucy wailed. "Minato! I need to pee!"

"Use the one downstairs!" he replied and shut the door in her face. Lucy pouted and stomped down the hall to her bedroom and flipped on the light.

A pink and white bedroom met her eyes. She smiled and flopped down on her queen-sized bed, rolling on top of the pink and white quilt. Her eyes flicked to the window and she saw that the light was on in the bedroom facing hers in Natsu's house. Wondering whose it was, she went closer and twitched open the curtains.

She gasped and quickly closed it, hoping that the curtains were thick enough to mostly conceal her. Squeezing her eyes shut, she sank to the floor and huddled by one of her many bookshelves.

"Minato's going to kill me…," she moaned.

Because no way was he going to let her sleep right next to a view Natsu Dragneel's bedroom, complete with dragon posters and everything.

Lucy peeked through again and studied what she could see of Natsu's room. It was disorganized, but not messy and she guessed Kushina or his mom had cleaned it. The walls were plastered with posters of dragons and anime characters, primarily _Fairy Tail, __Naruto, Ao no Exorcist,_ and _Fullmetal Alchemist_ and were colored a plain off white. She could see a dresser, which was directly facing the window with a small flatscreen TV on it and was covered with stuff from manga to socks. A door was right next to it, but she couldn't tell if it was a closet or if it led to the rest of the house. Lucy stood and found that she could see his king-sized bed, which was right under his window with the front of it tucked against the corner and had black sheets and a red Chinese dragon-patterned quilt.

On top of the quilt, staring into his laptop, was Natsu. He had already changed to a large blue shirt and black basketball shorts and was scrolling through what appeared to be his news feed on his Facebook account.

Lucy ducked under the curtains again and tucked herself into a corner of her room and changed into her pajama set that was patterned with white terriers. Taking a breath, she ran her brush through her hair and dashed into the bathroom once Minato headed to his own bedroom.

Feeling thankful that she had a walk-in closet so that Natsu wouldn't accidentally see her change, Lucy went back to her bedroom to see that Natsu had turned the lights off. Shutting her main light off and leaving the Christmas lights that she kept in her room for decoration on, she closed her eyes and went to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**I must say, I like this chapter better than the previous one. And so much more hints and clues, don't you think? Anyway, I'm sleepy now so please review! I didn't get any the last chapter and to my favorite reviewer for this fanfiction; Omili, where have you gone? I missed your constructive criticism! Please come and review again when you have the time! And the same goes to everyone else as well! I enjoy constructive criticism so review away!**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

"Natsu, wake up!" Lucy yelled from where she stood in the Dragneels' kitchen. "We're going to be late!"

Grandine, Natsu's and Wendy's mother, sighed and shook her head. "That boy's going to be the death of me." She and Lucy exchanged wry smiles and Grandine headed up the stairs, her long cobalt blue hair swishing behind her, as long as Kushina's own fiery locks.

"NATSU DRAGNEEL, YOU GET UP THIS INSTANT!" Lucy heard Grandine bellow. Giggling, Lucy heard Natsu fall out of bed and sprint to the bathroom as Grandine came down and cracked about ten eggs into a pan. "Would you like some breakfast?" the tall woman asked.

"No thank you," Lucy said. "I already ate."

"Well, if you change your mind, I can whip up something for you in a heartbeat." Grandine scrambled the eggs and sprinkled it with salt and pepper before piling it all on a plate just as Natsu came running down.

"Hey, Luce," he panted, picking up the plate and shoveling the eggs into his mouth. "Thanks, Mom!" he yelled and raced out the door.

Lucy blinked. "He doesn't really think we're going to be late, does he? It's only 7:25…"

But Grandine laughed. "It'll be good for him to get to school early." Before Lucy left, she put a water bottle and two chocolate donuts into her hand. "Give the bottle to Natsu, would you? And the donuts are for you."

"Oh, I couldn't— really—" But Grandine wouldn't hear any of it. With another warm smile, she ushered Lucy to the door and sent her off with a cheery, "Have a nice day."

Natsu was waiting impatiently for her at the gate. "Come on, Luce!"

Lucy laughed and tossed him the water bottle, which he caught one-handed. "Idiot. It's only 7:30. We have an hour before school starts."

Natsu's mouth dropped open. "Then why the hell are we going to school already?!" He turned and was about to stomp back to his bed when Lucy grabbed his arm and dragged him down the street. "Nooooo! Bed!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Come on, Natsu." She slipped him a donut to shut him up. "Going to school early is good for you."

As they passed by Lucy's house, Minato was just getting out of the house, wearing a white polo t-shirt and jeans with his messenger bag over his shoulder and his car keys in one hand with his thermos of coffee in another.

"Bye Minato!" Lucy called. "See you later!"

"Have fun! Be safe!" he called back, continuing to watch them until they turned the corner. With a sigh, he walked down to his car and pressed the remote. His Audi beeped and unlocked.

There was a loud clatter and Kushina suddenly burst out of her house, toast in her mouth, her hair in disarray, and her gray t-shirt and jeans rumpled with her purple and black backpack nearly slipping off her shoulder.

Minato watched her dash to her car and rummage in her pocket for her keys. "Need a ride?" he called.

Kushina's head snapped up and she took the bread out of her mouth. "Yeah, thanks."

"Hop in." He got in the car and Kushina came and sat in the passenger seat. "Why are you in a hurry? We've got 30 minutes left."

Kushina gaped at him. "We do?! But Grandine told me—" Her face darkened and she groaned, her head falling back. "Grandine told me I have five minutes or I'm gonna be late."

Minato chuckled and stopped before a stoplight. "Getting to school early is a good thing, you know."

"Bull," Kushina snapped. "I need my beauty sleep, 'ttebane."

But he only shook his head and hit the gas.

They pulled into Konoha College's student parking lot and headed to the café for a quick bite. Kushina bought a chocolate muffin and orange juice while Minato simply opted for a cookie. The girl behind the counter batted her eyes at Minato, but he simply smiled politely and went to sit down.

"That's it?" Kushina asked as she bit into her muffin.

"I already ate. Lucy makes breakfast, you know." He chewed on his cookie.

"Huh, that's nice." Kushina checked the time on her phone and pulled out a sketchbook and a lead pencil. She opened the sketchbook and Minato's brows rose as he saw the drawings. "What?" she asked, turning red.

"They're beautiful," he said. And they were; each drawing was incredibly detailed and ranged from drawings of cups to people to animals to furniture to food and mythical creatures and fantasy drawings of angels and demons and whatever seemed to capture her fancy.

Kushina blushed harder. "Thanks, 'ttebane. This is actually my 86th sketchpad and… well, drawing is my hobby. I love it and it makes me happy."

"Same for Lucy; she writes and reads and it's her passion to create stories." Minato smiled. "You're both… artistic, I guess."

"What about you?" Kushina asked. Her hand and pencil began to move, but Minato couldn't tell what she was drawing.

"Me?"

"Don't you have any hobbies or something? Games, reading…"

"I like to read," he said simply. "And I like to cook. I do play video games, but not that much nowadays." He glanced at Kushina's orange Swatch. "We have less than 7 minutes to get to class. Shall we go?"

"Alright." She closed her sketchbook and packed it before finishing the rest of her juice in three quick gulps. The muffin, she took to go.

As they walked out of the café, many girls stopped to coyly look at Minato, giggling and blushing. Minato strode past them with quick steps, Kushina hurrying after him. The giggles turned to whispers and hisses of gossip.

"Ugh, just cause you're the newbie…," Kushina muttered.

"I take it they think we're involved," Minato finished.

"That, and once they find out we're not going out, they'll be trying their hardest to get you." Kushina finished her muffin and tossed the wrapper into a nearby trashcan. "Let's go to class. The perfume stinks."

* * *

Lucy watched Natsu nap in the corner of the classroom. He was drooling and the liquid is sliding onto his notebook and creating a damp puddle. With a sigh, Lucy turned to face the front again.

Behind her, something poked her in the back. "Psst!" someone whispered.

Lucy peeked back and saw Jellal. "Yeah?" she whispered.

He passed her a piece of paper. "Anonymous, sorry." He returned to taking notes.

Curious, Lucy was about to unfold the paper when the bell rang. In the corner, Natsu snorted awake and yawned. Gray, who sat next to him, punched him in the shoulder. "Come on, you stupid idiot. Lunchtime."

Lucy packed her notebook and pencil case. Jellal waited for her to stand before leaving, the two of them following Natsu and Gray, who bantered as they strode down the hall.

As they walked down the stairs, they were joined by Erza, who smiled at Lucy in greeting. At the same time, hopeful girls wagged their fingers at Gray and Natsu and shot poisonous looks at Lucy when Natsu slung an arm around her, laughing.

"Lu-chan!" Levy cheered when they arrived in the cafeteria. She was sitting with Gajeel Redfox, her delinquent boyfriend, and they had to be the oddest couple in the school. However, it was clear they deeply cared for one another and Lucy smiled to see her new friend so cheerful around the hulking, scowling brute.

"Levy-chan!" Lucy called back.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia Locksar, a friend of Gajeel's who has a major crush on Gray, exclaimed as she sidled over to the group. "Stay away from him," she hissed at Lucy.

"Um, ok." Lucy blinked with bewilderment. Though they had met only yesterday, it seemed that she already deeply disliked Lucy for some reason.

They all sat down and Lucy pulled out the paper. "What's that, Luce?" Natsu asked.

"I don't know. Jellal gave it to me." They all looked at the blue-haired boy, who colored slightly. "He said it was from an anonymous person."

"Oh really?" Erza asked in a steely voice. "Who?"

Looking a little guilty, Jellal beckoned her forward and whispered in her ear. Immediately, she shot upright. "Lucy, give me that paper," she said, eyes burning.

"But…"

"Now!"

"O-Ok." She handed over the little slip and Erza ripped it to bits. "Hey! What was that for?!"

"Lucy, you do not want to caught with the likes of him," Erza said.

"Who is it from?" Levy asked anxiously.

"Jose Porla," Jellal said. Natsu snarled with anger and nearly bolted upright as well if not for Erza's quelling glare.

"That's nasty," Gray said, wrinkling his nose.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked, upset. "Who's Jose Porla?"

"This nasty creepy guy in our school," Natsu replied. "He's a lot older than us cause he's been left back a lot and he's a huge pervert." His worried gaze swept over Lucy. "He really likes girls with big… uh…" He made a cupping motion by his chest to indicate breasts.

"Oh ugh," Lucy said, disgusted.

"Stay away from him, Lucy," Erza said intently. "He's dangerous."

"I remember he got caught dealing drugs," Jellal said.

Lucy went sheet white. "Drugs?"

"Yeah, cocaine and heroin most of all, but I've heard he was selling weed too." Lucy began to tremble uncontrollably. "Lucy?" Jellal asked, concerned.

"Keep him away from me," she whispered, eyes large and filled with terror.

"Of course we will!" Natsu said.

"You don't even have to ask, Lu-chan," Levy chimed in.

Taking a few deep breaths, Lucy stood. "I need to go use the bathroom." Turning tail, she practically sprinted out of the cafeteria, phone tightly clutched in her hand.

"I'll go after her," Levy said, concerned. She dashed out as well.

"I wonder why she's so scared. I mean, I know being noticed by a drug dealer is a little cscary but like, what the heck?" Gray said, sipping his soda.

"Want me to ask?" Natsu asked him.

"No, you shouldn't force her. Lucy will tell us when she's ready," Erza said firmly. The rest nodded and returned to their lunches.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry this took forever and sorry about how short and sloppy this chapter is. I had a moment in time where I kinda hated how all my fanfictions seemed to be so crappy and stuff and I didn't feel like writing but I'm back now lol Hopefully I'm over this phase.**

**Anyway, next chapter I'm going to reveal Lucy's history with Bora and I hope you guys don't become disgusted with me. Review this chappie! :D**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

It was lunchtime at Konoha College for Minato and Kushina's best friend Mikoto and her boyfriend Fugaku Uchiha. Kushina was skipping lunch for an art project she was working on, leaving the three of them together.

At the moment, Minato was munching on the sandwich Lucy made for his lunch and watching his two new friends talk and laugh when his phone chimed. He pulled it out to see it was a text message from Lucy.

_Natsu and my friends just told me a drug dealer in our school is interested in me. Minato, what do I do? I don't want it to happen again…_

His eyes widened with panic. "What?!" he yelled, bolting upright. Everyone in the vicinity stared at him as he read and reread the message with horror. His heart began to pound as his mind filled with the traumatic images that corrupted his mind and heart from that terrible night.

"Minato?" Mikoto asked. "What's wrong?"

"I-I have to go," he stammered, snatching up his bag. "Sorry!" He sprinted to the parking lot and threw himself into the driver's seat before pulling out his phone and typing in a message.

_I'm coming to pick you up. Wait for me at the school entrance._

He threw the car into drive and zoomed out of the parking lot. As he drove, he struggled to keep his mind on the road. Along the way, he called Jiraiya and ordered him to go home, much to the older man's confusion, but Jiraiya didn't question him after hearing Minato's worried tone.

As he pulled up in front of the school, Minato noticed that Natsu was standing next to Lucy protectively while Lucy herself looked worried. When she noticed Minato's Audi, a bright smile came over her face and she ran forward, Natsu close behind her.

"Minato!" she cried out in relief.

"Get in," he said tersely. "We're going home." He nodded to Natsu in greeting but the boy said, "I want to come with you."

"Natsu, you have class," Lucy said.

"To hell with classes!" he yelled, eyes flashing with anger. "Why won't you tell me what's wrong? We're all worried about you, ya know!"

"Natsu," Minato said firmly. "When the time comes, we will tell you what's wrong. I promise you that. In the meantime, this has to be a family only affair." He looked into the boy's eyes. "I'm sorry."

Natsu clenched his teeth and glared at the ground. "Fine," he muttered. He looked up at Lucy. "You're fine, right? You're safe?"

"Yeah." She smiled gently and Minato gripped the steering wheel a tiny bit harder. "I'll talk to you later, alright."

"Ok." Minato drove off as Natsu watched them go.

"Minato, I'm worried," Lucy whispered from the backseat. "I… I don't want it to happen again."

"It's different this time," Minato said. "You're more careful." He sighed. "There are dangers in every town, but I wasn't expecting something like this to happen so soon. I want to know what Jiraiya thinks first before we do anything though what I really want to do is pack our bags and leave town, but after he heard what happened… that night… he made me promise not to do anything until he has a say in it."

"Thank goodness for that," Lucy muttered. They passed a green light in silence. "Minato, should I tell them?"

"About that night?"

"Yes."

Minato sighed again. "I made my promise to Natsu. What you tell the rest of your friends is up to you."

"Why did you promise to tell Natsu?" she asked.

He paused and did not speak for the longest time. "I don't know."

* * *

"WHAT?!" Jiraiya yelled.

"That's why I called you back home," Minato sighed. "I don't want it to happen again but this time, I'm not sure what to do other than move out of Magnolia and never come back."

"This is why I'm glad I made you promise not to make decisions without me," Jiraiya muttered.

"All my friends are worried too, but Natsu's the most persistent." Lucy glanced at her brother, who clenched his jaw. "Minato promised to tell him, but that still doesn't solve the problem."

Jiraiya sighed and slumped into the armchair. "I can talk to the principal. Makarov, was it? I'll explain the situation and see what he can do about it before anything else happens."

"I don't want him within a hundred feet of her," Minato snarled.

"Same," Jiraiya replied softly. He looked straight at Lucy. "You still remember the basic self-defense moves I taught you?"

"Yeah."

Jiraiya rubbed his jaw. "I want you to stay close to Natsu— Minato, no, let me explain." He held up a hand to Minato, who had opened his mouth in protest. "First of all, Natsu's a strong-looking boy. It's better for her to have someone walk her home every day and it's already convenient that Natsu lives next door. Second, I trust him." He looked into Minato's eyes. "_I trust him_."

Minato gritted his teeth and looked away.

Lucy reached out and gently grasped his arm. "Minato, I already told you Natsu and I aren't like that. Natsu doesn't think of me that way."

"I know," Minato sighed. "But you can't blame me for worrying." He sighed and glanced out the window. It was late afternoon and the sun was still streaming in. "I… need to talk to him. If he's going to be protecting you, he should know the reason behind it."

Jiraiya nodded. "But…wait a few days. Let me talk to Makarov first and then we'll see what else we can do. Lucy, stick close to Natsu when you go to school. If not him, then one of your friends. Don't ever go anywhere alone."

Lucy nodded. Just then, the doorbell rang.

Minato stood and opened the door. It was Kushina. "What're you doing here?" he asked, opening the door.

"Wondering where the hell you went," she snapped back. "Mikoto told me you left for some reason and thank goodness Fugaku drives or I would've been taking the bus!"

With a pang of guilt, Minato remembered that he had driven Kushina to school that morning. "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot. Something, uh, came up and I had to take care of it."

Her eyes softened. "Natsu told me what happened. Is Lucy alright? He said she seemed pretty freaked out."

"Yeah." He took a deep breath. "Everything's fine."

Kushina gave him a doubtful look, but left it alone. "Well alright." She handed him a folded sheet of paper. "This is the homework for Tsunade's class. See you tomorrow."

"Thanks. See you." He watched her turn and leave and shut the door after her.

"Was that Kushina?" Lucy asked as Minato reappeared.

"Yeah. She wanted to know if you were alright."

"Oh." She smiled. "We have nice neighbors."

"Are you sure that's all she came for?" Jiraiya asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"Yes," Minato snapped.

"Ooh, touchy."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna shower. I'll call you when it's time for dinner." She picked up her bag and ran up the stairs.

Minato watched her go and looked at Jiraiya. "This time… it's going to be different, right?" His blue eyes burned within from fear.

His godfather sighed. "I don't know. We might just be overreacting. Lucy's an attractive girl: she's bound to attract all kinds of guys."

"But what she went through wasn't what most girls her age should've gone through!" Minato's voice cracked slightly. "I can't let her go through that again, alright?! I just can't!"

"I know and I feel the same way, but we can't just charge blindly into the situation. We have to wait and see what happens. Promise me you'll be patient."

Minato's lips thinned. "Fine. But if _anything_ happens…"

He let the sentence trail off before turning on his heel and disappearing upstairs.


	8. Chapter 8

**Gotta say, I really like this chapter and... DUN DUN DUN! I did not do the big reveal! Don't hate me...**

**But besides that, I hope you liked the deeper insight into Minato's mixed feelings to Natsu, his somewhat bonding time with him, his reasons for not telling Natsu... basically everything. I know it must've been a huge disappointment, but hey, this is a little too soon. Right? **

**Hope you liked the smidge of NaLu in here, the big brother Minato trying to protect his baby sister, and... next chapter, a little more MinaKushi for you adorable people and soon... another plot twist. Plot line. Plot... yeah, whatever.**

**REVIEW, MY MUNCHKINS! **

**Oh and a little tiny spoiler for you guys since I took forever to update: there is a reason why I mentioned that Erza reminded Minato of Kushina a bit and it isn't the red hair. If you guys think you've figured it out, put your hypothesis in the review!**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

It was a week until Minato decided to tell Natsu what was going on. He couldn't help but notice how determined Natsu looked when Jiraiya instructed him to remain close to Lucy's side, or how worried he appeared whenever he thought Lucy wasn't looking. It made Minato nervous whenever he thought about how maybe, just _maybe_, Natsu could possibly be falling in love with his little sister.

But then he laughs at himself. A person can't fall in love in a week. And besides, this was no time to be thinking about whether or not Natsu loves Lucy. He had more pressing issues to care about.

So that was why Minato asked Natsu to go to the supermarket with him on Saturday.

Natsu looked bewildered as Minato grabbed a shopping cart on the way in. "Uh, why're we here?"

"I'm making dinner tonight and you're joining us," Minato replied. He steered the cart to the fruits and vegetables section. "How does steak and potatoes sound?"

"Sounds good."

They finished shopping and carried the bags back to Minato's house. Lucy was upstairs and Minato could hear the sound of water splashing. Jiraiya was nowhere to be seen, but since his car is in the driveway, he assumed that his godfather was either taking a nap or working on his latest novel.

Minato set the bags on the island. "Can you help me unpack?" he asked. "I want to make some coffee."

"Sure." Natsu reached into the first bag for the orange juice and milk. As he unpacked, Minato watched the coffee fall into the pot contemplatively, thinking on how to approach the subject.

"Minato?" Lucy had entered the kitchen. Upon seeing Natsu, she glanced at Minato, who nodded grimly. She nodded back, a sad glint in her eyes before calling, "Hey, Natsu!"

The boy started. "Oh hey Luce!"

She waved and disappeared upstairs after grabbing the bag of Doritos sitting on the counter. "Dinner's in about an hour so don't eat too much!" Minato called after her.

"Alright!" Lucy called back. There was the sound of a door shutting and the boys turned back to the kitchen.

As Minato prepared the food, Natsu tried not to fidget. While most usually considered him dense, his instincts are rather fine tuned and he knew that Minato wouldn't invite him to help him make dinner just for nothing. But he decided to wait, knowing that the older boy still hasn't completely warmed up to him yet.

Twenty minutes passed and by now Natsu was ready to burst out of the kitchen or start yelling at Minato, demanding to know what was going on. But he did neither of those things, for Minato finally decided to talk.

"You want coffee?" he asked.

Natsu blinked. Not what he had been expecting. "Uh, no thanks. I don't really like the stuff."

Minato nodded and poured himself a cup, adding the milk and sugar. He leaned against the kitchen island next to Natsu as he continued to stir. "Natsu, how do you feel about my sister?"

The boy blinked and swallowed. "Uh…"

"And please be honest about it." Minato's piercing blue eyes never left Natsu's black ones.

Natsu twisted his lips into a slight grimace. "She's really smart and nice… and pretty. She's different too; she's not like the other girls. It feels like I've known her for years when I've only known her for about two weeks so I guess I feel really close to her." He looked away from Minato, somewhat fearing his reaction.

Minato closed his eyes and his hands tightened around his coffee cup. He may not have been right in thinking Natsu was already falling in love with Lucy, but there was definitely a bond there. He could see it forming before his very eyes and although he didn't like that Lucy was getting so close to a boy, he couldn't deny her the right to have friends. It's only when they become more than friends that he steps in to interfere.

"You… don't think of her as anything more?" he asked, wanting to make sure.

"No! Lucy's one of my best friends! I don't like her as a… girlfriend or something like that! Heck, I've only known her for a few weeks!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Okay." Minato took a sip of his coffee. "It's not that I don't like you, Natsu. It's just that… Lucy's had a bad experience with boys before." This was a good place to begin with… But why did he feel sick to his stomach at the thought of telling him about that night two years ago?

Natsu's gaze sharpened. "What do you mean a bad experience? What happened? Is she alright?"

Minato opened his mouth, wanting the words to come pouring out, but for some reason they seemed to be stuck in his throat. He closed it and looked at Natsu helplessly. He wanted to say it, wanted this boy to understand why he was so hostile at first, why Lucy freaked out when she heard about Jose, why Natsu had been sticking so close to her without any reason other than the fact that he had to make sure she was alright.

But it was too soon. They barely know this boy at all and yet they were about to reveal one of their deepest secrets. Besides, it wasn't like Natsu was asking to be Lucy's boyfriend.

_Yes, it was too soon_, Minato thought to himself with a slight feeling of relief.

He shook his head, both to clear his mind and to answer Natsu's question. "Well… it was a… long time ago," he replied lamely. "A story for another time."

Natsu looked like he wanted to beat the answer out of Minato, but refrained from doing so. "But is she okay? No…injuries?"

They both knew it wasn't the physical but the emotional injuries Natsu was talking about.

"A little," Minato replied truthfully. He looked at the clock on the stove. "Come on, we should get a move on in making dinner."

They spent the remainder of the time in silence— save for when Minato was giving Natsu instructions— each lost I their own thoughts. Right before Minato called Lucy and Jiraiya down to dinner, he said to Natsu quietly, "Don't ask Lucy about what happened to her. Please. One day I'll tell you, but right now… it's better not to mention it. Just protect her from Jose."

"I will," Natsu promised. "But only if you promise you'll tell me one day."

"I already did promise you," Minato replied, smiling wearily. He ran a hand through his spikes. "And Lucy said she'll tell the rest of your friends, but I want her to tell them only after I tell you. For some reason— and believe me, I really don't like this— but it kind of feels like you're the one that's closest to Lucy… in a way that makes me really uncomfortable."

Natsu looked confused by the little speech, but nodded. "Okay, I won't ask."

"Thank you. Go sit down, I'll call them down for dinner." Minato headed up the stairs, knocking on Jiraiya's office to tell him it was time for dinner before heading down the hall to Lucy's room.

His little sister was on her laptop, Skyping with several friends, two of whom were blue-haired and one fierce-looking redhead that somehow reminded him of Kushina. "Lucy?" he asked, knocking on the door.

Her head popped up. "Oh, hi Minato." She gestured at the screen. "These are my friends Levy McGarden, Juvia Lockser, and Erza Scarlet." The girls nodded and waved in greeting.

Minato waved back. "Sorry to interrupt, but it's time for dinner."

Lucy nodded to the girls. "I'll be back soon." She ended the call and turned to Minato expectantly. "Did you tell him?"

He shook his head. "No. It… didn't feel like the right time."

Her face fell a little, but at the same time, she looked relieved. "I'm kinda happy you didn't tell him. He's a good friend and I was scared that after you told him, he'll be disgusted with me."

"I don't think he would." Minato glanced over his shoulder as he heard Jiraiya's loud laughter ring out. "I told him not to ask you and I don't want you to tell your friends before I tell Natsu. It seems better that way."

"I agree," Lucy said, standing up and pulling a hoodie over her pink t-shirt. "Now let's go eat. I can smell the meat from here." She dashed out the room first, her footfalls thumping on the wooden stairs as Minato followed slowly.

As he entered the dining room, he couldn't help but see the way Lucy laughed at Natsu's jokes or the way Natsu raptly listened to Lucy's words and wonder again whether or not Natsu was still falling for her despite his assurances to Minato that they were merely friends.


	9. Chapter 9

**Guys... the pain... I got next to no action when I published the last chapter save for two reviews (thanks guys!). How am I supposed to keep writing if I don't have beautiful reviewing and following and stuff to cheer me on? LOL sorry, but I was a little hurt. It's ok though, if you guys are busy. I know people have stuff to do over the summer (I have to work out... *cries*and volunteer... *cries*) But drop a review if you can!**

**Anyways... Well, this chapter was a little cheesy, I think. I did good on the MinaKushi, maybe? And I'm not sure about the time transition and the start of a new plot line, plot twist, plot... whatever. But I think it's time to address what I like to call the "Uzumaki Sisters Issue" because it's time for the MinaKushi to get a move on! Might have been a little too dramatic, but it's fine... right?**

**I realize I might not have had a lot of NaLu lately. More accurately: focusing on Natsu and Lucy as they interact in school and stuff since I've been focusing a lot on Minato's angsty perspective. But next chapter, you gotta bear with me again cause I'm gonna be telling the "Uzumaki Sisters Issue". And for real this time! Trolled you once last chapter (a bit) so I'm gonna make it up to you guys (even though a lot of y'all haven't checked out the last chapter...) by telling you... the "Uzumaki Sisters Issue"!**

**So review, lovelies. And please review. And review. And review. And if you're a newbie and you like this fic, follow and/or fav.**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

September faded to October and the days got a little chillier. This usually meant that Lucy had to literally drag Natsu out of bed on weekdays for school and Minato had to wait for Kushina a little longer as well. Though she had her own car, it became a sort of unspoken custom for them to take turns to drive each other to school. Usually Minato drove since Kushina took longer to wake up, but they managed to keep the pattern.

On one unusually cold morning, Minato was waiting in front of Kushina's house, listening to Lucy yell at Natsu even though they were inside and on the second floor, and sipping a thermos of coffee.

Kushina yawned. "They're taking forever. Why can't we just go on?"

He shrugged, not wanting to explain that he didn't like seeing her off with Natsu unless he was watching the boy as closely as possible.

Lucy skipped lightly out of the house, a grumbling Natsu behind her. She zipped up her coat. "Bye Minato, bye Kushina! I'll see you guys later!"

"Yeah, bye," Natsu muttered, bleary-eyed. He was winding his scarf around his neck. Seeing it, Minato remembered that they should be buying more winter gear soon.

"Don't forget to come home earlier tonight!" Kushina called after her younger brother. "It's Kurama's birthday, 'ttebane!"

"Okay, sure," he yawned. "See ya."

"Kurama?" Minato asked curiously.

"My pet fox," Kushina explained. She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. "I drew a sketch of him yesterday."

The drawing showed a very realistic drawing of a fox lying on its side while chewing on a dog toy. "It's very detailed," he complimented.

"Thanks. If you want, I can bring him over one day."

"Nah, Plue might not like that."

"Oh, right."

They walked to Kushina's car in silence and Minato shivered a little as he climbed in. "Cold?" Kushina asked, smirking a little. He nodded in reply and she reached for his jacket. "It's probably cause you're not zipped up. Coffee doesn't completely keep out the chill, 'ttebane."

He froze as Kushina reached for his zipper. A series of images flashed through his mind and he jerked back. "No!"

She stared at him, eyes wide and fingers halted. Minato closed his eyes. "I-I'm sorry. I'd rather do it myself, if you don't mind." A heavy and awkward silence filled the car as he zipped up his jacket and Kushina turned back around. She started the car without another word and they drove to Konoha in silence.

As Kushina parked, she stopped the car but didn't get out. "What was all that about, 'ttebane?"

Minato grimaced. She wasn't one to hold back for long with all the questions and the demands. "It was nothing."

"Bull!" she snapped. "It was something and we both know it." Her voice and eyes softened. "Did I hurt you?"

He shook his head. "No." When she fell silent, he chanced a look at her, noting how worried and ever so mildly guilty she looked. They wordlessly got out of the car and locked it before heading towards their first class. When Kushina still didn't talk, Minato let out a long sigh and whispered softly, "It's just… you reminded me of someone I knew a very long time ago."

He could see the surprise in her eyes. "Who?"

Minato shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Aw come on, tell me is it an old girlfriend?"

"What? No!"

"Cousin?"

"Don't have any."

"Tell me!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to."

"You're mean, 'ttebane." Kushina stuck her tongue out at him, but her lips were twitching.

Minato could feel a slight smile tugging at his lips as well. "You're annoying, go away." He walked faster, but to his irritation, Kushina kept up.

"Was it your mother?"

He stopped so abruptly that Kushina crashed into him. "What the hell was that for, 'ttebane?!"

Eyes blazing, he whirled on her. "How did you know?"

Her own eyes widened. "Know what? Hey, it was just a guess. You don't have to freak out on me."

He clenched his jaw. "Just go away," he muttered, whirling back around and striding with long strides towards his class.

Kushina gazed after him, taking in the way his broad shoulders hunched forward in a way she was all too familiar with. Her eyes widened and she ran after him. "Minato! Minato, wait!"

But he didn't turn around. Huffing, she rushed forward until she stopped right in front of him. "What do you want?" he snapped, eyes still burning with sapphire flames.

Wordlessly, she stared at him. There was a sort of pain in his features, the kind that bespoke of a deep tragedy. Without second thought, she reached forward and threw her arms around him, holding him close.

Minato froze. He was about to jerk away from her when she whispered, "You're not the only one, 'ttebane."

"Only what?" he asked, but his voice lost the angry edge to it. He was barely conscious of the students around them, staring and whispering to their friends.

"You're not the only one who's lost a mom," she said, so softly that he had to fight to hear it. "I lost mine too."

He closed his eyes and wrapped an arm around her waist in a comforting manner. "Sorry. I was being inconsiderate."

"It's ok. You didn't know."

"But Kushina, Lucy and I didn't just lose a mother," he murmured, eyes opening again. "We lost our father as well."

Kushina slumped. "So did I…"

He stiffened, but now his other arm came around her and pulled her close to him in a comforting manner, a sort of strength one orphan gives to another as a way to let them know they understand their pain as they themselves have suffered through it as well.

Kushina clung to him and buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm sorry," Minato whispered. "You're all alone while I have Lucy as my remaining immediate family."

"No," she whispered back. "I'm not alone." She looked up at him and he was startled to see tears nearly overflowing in her gray-violet eyes. "The Dragneels are as close to my immediate family as they'll ever be, but I have one other: a younger sister."

"Who? I don't recall seeing her around," he said, puzzled.

Kushina bit her lip and the tears spilled down her cheeks. "She doesn't remember me. I remember her, but she doesn't. She's even scared of me."

Minato rubbed her back soothingly. "Who is she?"

She looked at him warily. "I don't know if you know her, but she's great friends with Natsu so she'll most likely really good friends with Lucy as well."

He thought. "I don't—"

"You might know her as Erza Scarlet."


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry I took so long! I had trouble deciding how to start this chapter and how to portray the Uzumaki Sisters Issue, but I got it! I was going to do a full flashback scene but it just ended up looking cheesy so I scrapped it and had Natsu do the talking. I hope you like the bit of NaLu and MinaKushi in here! I want to keep things simple, but it's starting to look a lot more developed so I'm going to slack off a bit on the cutesy stuff for a while! But don't worry, I won't stop it forever.**

**Review guys! I really wanna know what you guys think about the Uzumaki Sisters Issue!**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

"Hey, Natsu!" Lucy said cheerfully, sliding into the seat next to him.

The boy nodded to her through a mouthful of pizza. "Hi Rushi. Washup?"

The girl shrugged. "Not much. Classes, homework: the usual."

He nodded again and swallowed the pizza. The friends ate in comfortable silence, waiting for the rest of their friends to show up. After Lucy finished her homemade sandwich, she pulled out a thick folder, which was stuffed with paper scrawled all over with lines and lines of words written in neat lines.

"Whoa, what's that?" Natsu asked, eyes widening. "A project?"

Lucy jabbed him with her pen. "'Course not. It's my novel."

"Novel? You write?" Natsu asked, surprised.

"Yeah," she said. "I just don't bring it to school. I keep it in my desk."

Taking a closer look, Natsu thought he recognized the folder. "That's what you've been writing all the time?"

Blushing, Lucy nodded. She and Natsu saw each other from their rooms and in the warmer days of September, they would open their windows and talk, since their houses are rather close by each other though with a considerable three foot gap. Sometimes they would toss things over to each other: homework assignments, snacks, a movie DVD that Natsu particularly liked. But ever since it was colder, they kept their windows closed and would look over at each other occasionally. Lucy once saw Natsu getting dressed for school and couldn't look him in the eye the entire day without turning red at the memory of seeing his bare and surprisingly toned torso. She figured he had looked over at her and saw her working on her novel.

"What's it about?" Natsu asked, trying to read the sheets of paper, but Lucy closed the folder.

"None of your business," she replied tartly.

"Then why did you bring it to school if you don't want people to read it?" he asked, trying to take the folder without her noticing.

"I do want people to read it. Just not yet and besides, Levy-chan found out about it and I brought it for her to read first."

Natsu's mouth dropped open. "You're letting Levy read it? But Luce, I'm your best friend!" he whined.

"So am I," Levy said as she dropped down into the empty seat in front of them, her tray filled with a pizza slice, a bag of chips, a bottle of mineral water, and an orange. Gajeel sat down next to her, ignoring the rest of them. "But Lu-chan likes me better!" She stuck her tongue out at Natsu, who pouted.

"Real mature, guys," Gray said as he plopped into the seat across from Natsu. Juvia rushed to sit next to him, glaring a little at Lucy even though she claimed over and over again that she felt nothing for Gray but friendship.

"Shut up, bastard," Natsu snapped. He stared at Lucy, eyes enormous and pleading. "Can I pwease read it, Lushy?"

The girl trembled, unable to tear her eyes away from those big, dark orbs. "Ah…"

"PWEASE?!" He leaned closer.

Lucy could feel her heart pounding as she stared, mesmerized. "Ummmm…" Her resolve was weakening.

Then there was a flash and Natsu was curled up on the ground in a fetal position, whimpering. Erza was standing over him, furious. "Natsu… what were you doing?"

"N-N-Nothing!" he squeaked.

"Why were you harassing Lucy then?" she snarled.

"Erza, he wasn't—" Lucy began, but Erza glared and she froze. "Nevermind…"

"Erza, I don't think Natsu was harassing Lucy," Jellal soothed her, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her cheek. Natsu nodded furiously. "Let's just eat. I bought strawberry cake."

"Cake?" She brightened and followed her boyfriend to the table, ignoring Natsu completely.

Lucy laughed lightly and helped him up. "Sorry about that."

"Nah, it's ok." He clambered back onto his seat and looked at Erza. "She's as scary as Kushina…"

But as soon as that name slipped out, he clapped his own hands across his mouth, Jellal whacked him in the head, Levy let out a tiny shriek of fear, Gajeel froze in place, Gray also whacked Natsu in the head, and Juvia cowered behind Gray.

Lucy blinked. "What just happened?"

"Don't ever mention Kushina in front of Erza," Gray hissed to her. "She goes… berserk."

"Why?"

The rest of them, save for Jellal, who was coddling Erza, exchanged looks. "We should tell her," Levy whispered.

"Tell me what?" Lucy was getting slightly annoyed.

"I'll do it," Natsu said. "Luce, can you come with me?"

"Why? Where are we going?" But she stood up nonetheless, packing up her things.

"To the roof." Natsu picked up his pizza and shoved it into his mouth while picking up his backpack at the same time.

Lucy frowned. "But it's cold…" She pulled on her jacket and comically shivered to emphasize her point.

"Don't worry. Here…" He removed his scarf and wrapped it around Lucy's neck. "This'll keep you warm."

She was consciously aware of the stares and whispers from her own friends and from the other tables as well. "Thanks. Let's just go."

Natsu nodded and grasped her hand, leading her out of the cafeteria. As they walked, Lucy grasped Natsu's muffler and pressed it to her nose. _It smells like him…_, she thought dreamily. Then realization kicked in. "Natsu, isn't this the scarf your Dad gave you? It's your most prized possession!" He'd told her so a few weeks ago at the start of their friendship.

"Nah, it's ok. You're cold so you need it." He'd turned around, but she thought she could see a light flush along his cheeks.

Smiling into his scarf, she murmured, "Thanks. Again."

"It's ok." He pushed open the door and Lucy squealed as a gust of wind rushed at her, ruffling her hair and causing her skirt to fly up slightly. Thankful she wore tights, she followed Natsu to one of the railings and sat down. She was thankful he sat close enough that she could feel the warmth saturating from him.

"Luce, you have to promise me that you can't tell anybody about what I'm going to tell you," Natsu said in a serious voice. His eyes bore into hers. "Promise."

"I promise," she said, wrapping her arms around her legs to keep in the warmth.

He nodded and took a deep breath, then exhaling in a cloud of vapor. "Kushina and Erza are sisters."

Lucy's mouth dropped open. She blinked several times, trying to see the similarities between the two girls. "I don't see it. Kushina's face is more oval while Erza has a heart-shaped face. Plus the eye color is different and Kushina's hair is a shade lighter than Erza's… The light skin could be a factor but heck, my skin is light and so is Minato's. That just leaves the crazy strength and temper…"

Natsu chuckled. "They're sisters. Kushina's about two or three years older than Erza, but anyway, when Kushina and Erza were kids— I think Kushina was 9 and Erza was about 7— their parents were murdered."

Lucy's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything so Natsu continued his narrative. "It was Erza who discovered their bodies and the murderers. She screamed and woke Kushina up, but the murderers shot Erza and she took one to the head."

At Lucy's gasp of horror, Natsu scooted over and wrapped his arm around her comfortingly. "Kushina told Erza to run before fighting off the murderers with a baseball bat." He let out a weak laugh. "A neighbor heard the screaming and stuff and called the cops. They arrested the murderers, but nobody could find Erza.

"Kushina didn't have anywhere to go, so Igneel decided to take her in. So she grew up with us and never stopped looking for Erza."

"So what's Erza's story?" Lucy asked softly.

"From what Jellal told us, he found Erza in the rain bleeding a lot and unconscious. He took her to Grandpa Rob— not his real grandpa, but whatever— and she's ok again, but when she woke up, she didn't remember anything except her name, Erza.

"So Jellal named her Erza Scarlet after her hair so she wouldn't forget who she is—"

"That's so sweet," Lucy said, tears pooling in her eyes. She swiped them away.

"Uh, yeah I guess. So he and Grandpa Rob took care of her until Grandpa Rob died. They live together and everything." Natsu stared down at the girl tucked under his arm, but she was lost in thought.

"How did Erza and Kushina meet?" Lucy asked.

Natsu winced and ran a hand through his hair. "I invited Erza and everyone else in the gang to my house when we were in 8th grade. We were gonna hang out, play games and stuff, but Kushina was in the house. She came outside, saw Erza, and… freaked. Started crying and rushed at Erza yelling about how happy she was that her little sis was safe."

"And Erza?"

Natsu winced again. "She started screaming and crying and hid behind Jellal and yelling at the rest of us to keep Kushina away from her. She also said her head hurts and that she's scared."

Lucy's jaw dropped. "No way. Erza?!"

"Yup. Igneel and Grandine rushed out, dragged Kushina away. She was yelling that she was her sis, but Erza ran away. After that, if someone even mentions Kushina, Erza will start crying again and Kushina agreed to stay away."

"That's terrible," Lucy whispered after a long beat.

"Yeah. And if we mention Erza, Kushina will start crying. A little. Okay, a lot. I don't like talking about it." Natsu shifted, as if uncomfortable where he sat.

They sat in silence for a long time. A bell rang and Natsu sighed. "Time for class." He stood and shouldered his bag before extending a hand to Lucy, who took it. He pulled her up and they walked back down the stairs.

"Don't forget: don't tell anyone, not even Minato," Natsu warned her.

"I know." As Natsu walked away towards his class, Lucy suddenly remembered. "Natsu! Your scarf."

But he simply turned around and grinned at her. "Just keep it safe for now. I'll take it back once we get home!" With that, he went and dashed to his class as the late bell rang, leaving Lucy to stare after him and forgetting all about her own class.

* * *

Minato sat in silence, dumbfounded. Next to him, Kushina sniffled and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. He reached over and pulled her close in a one-armed hug. She wept into his jacket, letting out small choked sounds that soon faded away as she composed herself. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

He shook his head. "It's ok. I just— I didn't expect something like that."

Kushina nodded and they sat together in one of Konoha College's seating areas in silence. Class was in session, so only a handful of people were on campus at this time and thus there was no one to disturb them.

After a few seconds, Kushina pulled away when she heard a short sequence of music from her pocket. She checked it and her eyebrows rose. "Seems Natsu had the same idea I had today. He told Lucy about me and Erza."

"Doesn't seem like much of a coincidence, doesn't it?"

"But it is." Kushina glanced at him and her heart skipped a beat. She stared at his arms and wished she could return to their embrace, especially since a cold wind was blowing through and she didn't bring a proper jacket, but also because she felt… comforted. She mentally shook her head. She shouldn't be feeling this way. She only knew this guy for a handful of weeks for goodness sake! She typed back a message, saying she told Minato as well and shoved the phone back into her pocket, letting out a sigh and watching the vapor spiral into the air.

Minato was staring into the distance. "So, you and Erza haven't seen each other for a while?"

"A few months. I sometimes spot her when I'm going to pick up Wendy or stuff like that and I make sure to never let her see me."

"Did you talk to Tsunade about this?"

"Yeah. She says it's unlikely Erza will regain her memory…" Kushina swallowed, feeling like she wanted to cry. "I mean, it's been about ten years already so yeah, not likely."

He looked at her and saw how she hunched her shoulders around her, lips pressed tight together and hands clenched so that the knuckles were white. At that moment, he didn't see a 20-year-old vivacious college student. Instead, he saw a lonely 9-year-old child who had just lost her entire family with one night, taken in by strangers and left alone in the world.

He knew he was far luckier than her. He at least still had Lucy and he had Jiraiya, his godfather, to take care of them. He was secure that even if he lost one, he would have the other and Kushina had only the Dragneels and her only living direct relative doesn't even know who she is.

Minato sighed and stood. "Um… you mentioned that it was Kurama's birthday, right?"

"Yeah," she said, surprised.

"Well… how about we ditch today and I'll treat you? In honor of Kurama's birthday, I mean."

Kushina smiled, knowing what he really meant by this gesture. "Sure. I know a great place we can go to. Mind you though, you wouldn't want your sister to go there."

"Do you mean The Trimens Café?" Minato asked. "Natsu told me about it. I forbade her from going and she agreed."

"I still go for their strawberry cakes. Erza loves strawberry cake and I have to agree: it's delicious. The Trimens are scared of me, though. I don't know. Maybe cause I threw one of them through a window once."

Minato's eyes widened. "Did he die?"

"No," she sighed. "But he deserved to. He tried to grope my breasts."

"Maybe we should go somewhere else…"

"Nah, I want strawberry cake. Let's go, 'ttebane!" Kushina cheered, leading the way. She grasped his wrist and pulled him along.

"Hey, I can walk by myself," he grumbled, gently pulling away from her grip.

"Aw, but you're so slow!" she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh really?" Minato smirked. "I'll have you know I was the track star of my high school for three years!"

Kushina scoffed. "I bet I'll still beat you to the car."

"Is that a challenge?"

"You bet it is, 'ttebane!"

Needless to say, Minato won. And of course, Kushina claimed that she "let him win".


	11. Chapter 11

**Waah, not a lot of people read my last chapter. I'm sad :'( but it's ok. I really wanted to know your thoughts on the Uzumaki Sisters Issue though!**

**This chapter... it's a bit of a filler, but next one will be kinda important. I did sort of plan a big reveal about Lucy's history on chapter 15, but maybe it'll be bumped up to next chapter instead. I don't know.**

**And don't kill me over the ending! Review instead!**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

"I didn't know Kushina told you," Lucy said with surprise after Minato relayed the story to Jiraiya at dinner. She absently reached down and scratched Plue's head as he whined for attention.

"I didn't know Natsu told you until Kushina got a text from him," he replied, taking a bite of the chicken parmesan he made for dinner that night.

"He accidently said Kushina's name in front of Erza and after the way everyone reacted, I wanted to know the reason."

Jiraiya shook his head with amusement. "Curiosity will be your besetting sin one day."

"Or vanity," Minato interjected.

"Shut up," Lucy said tartly. She gulped down her food and stood with a clatter. "I have a really nasty essay today. See you!" She ran up the stairs, her footsteps thumping loudly on the wood.

"Oh sure. Essay," Jiraiya muttered, a broad grin on his face. "Bet you anything she's just hanging out with Natsu right now."

Minato frowned sharply. It had not gone well when he had discovered that Lucy's room was right across Natsu's, especially when he caught them leaning out their windows and chatting to each other, but Lucy had won the argument after she promised over their parents' graves that she would never do anything inappropriate and that she would change her clothes or do anything of the personal sort with her window curtains drawn or in her closet or in the bathroom. He hadn't liked it, but he knew Lucy would never break a promise like that and had grudgingly allowed her to keep her room, but warned that if he ever catches anything amiss going on, he's going to switch rooms with her whether she likes it or not.

"Kidding!" Jiraiya said, but he was interrupted by the thunder of footsteps again.

"Minato! Jiraiya!" Lucy squealed, swinging into the dining room. "There's a Halloween Party at Gray's house! Natsu just invited me! Can I go?!"

"What time is it?" Minato asked.

"8 to 11pm. It's chaperoned by Gray's parents and Gray's dad is going to drive us all home after. Plus Wendy's going to be there. Please?"

"Well… since its chaperoned and all, I guess it's alright," Minato said reluctantly. "Jiraiya?"

"I don't see why not."

"YES! THANK YOU SO MUCH!" Lucy screamed, giving them a hug before dashing up again.

"Speaking of parties and things, you should go out somewhere. You've barely made friends and your only girlfriend broke up with you after two months when you were 17. Lucy's growing up and she can take care of herself. It's time you lived your own life." Jiraiya pushed away his empty plate as he spoke.

"I have friends!" Minato protested. "Hizashi and Hiashi Hyuuga, Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Nara, and Choza Akimichi, Mikoto and Fugaku, and Kushina!"

Jiraiya blinked. "Well… go out with them! Have fun!"

Minato grimaced. "We didn't make plans—"

His phone chimed. He pulled it out and checked the screen. "It's from Inoichi," he said with surprise.

_Yo, Minato! Choza's having a party at his place. Halloween. The whole gang's gonna be there. Beer, barbecue, candy, women. You in?_

Minato wordlessly looked up at Jiraiya and held out his phone.

Jiraiya raised his eyebrows. "Go."

"Are you sure?" He grimaced. "I'm not very… sociable."

His godfather raised an eyebrow. "Could've fooled me. From what I've heard, everyone wanted to talk to you."

"Those were all girls," he sighed.

"Minato. Go. Have fun for once." Jiraiya smiled. "I'll make sure Lucy gets home safe and I'll call if anything happens, alright?"

After a long pause, Minato exhaled through his nose and nodded. "Alright." He typed a quick message back to Inoichi.

_Sure._

* * *

"I can't wait for Friday to come!" Lucy warbled as she bounced down the sidewalk a few weeks later.

Natsu followed, watching amusedly. "It's just a party."

Lucy shook her head. "I've never made enough friends to be invited to a party before. And besides, Minato doesn't usually let me."

"He needs to lighten up," Natsu muttered.

She watched him from the corner of her eye, musing. "Minato only wants me to be safe."

"I know that, but what's his problem? He acts like… your mom! And your dad! Isn't that Jiraiya's problem?"

A corner of her mouth quirked up. "I know. I yelled at him about it once, but it was my fault. I just felt like he was smothering me—"

"He is smothering you!" Natsu burst out exasperatedly. "You need to live your own life, you know!"

"I already am. Minato's given me a lot freer reign than before." Lucy turned around and faced Natsu. "But thanks for the concern." She let out a light laugh. "Actually, I still kind of feel like he's smothering a bit, but after the last argument and what happened, I kinda owe him a lot for that."

"What happened? Was it that thing that Minato said about you and guys and why I need to make sure you're safe from Jose?" Natsu stepped closer. "He wouldn't tell me and I'm worried, Luce."

Her mouth parted. "Oh, Natsu. I really wish I can tell you, but it's not the right time. Besides, Minato promised you and I promised to tell everyone else. When you want to know, you'll have to take it up with him."

Natsu looked disgruntled but nodded. "Alright."

Lucy nodded as well. She turned and they continued on their way home. "So anyway, do you want to come to my house? Jiraiya's out and Minato's still at college so it gets pretty lonely."

"Eh, I gotta pick up Wendy today cause Dad and Kushina can't. Sorry." He grimaced.

"It's alright. Come over after if you want. I'm making a bunch of chocolate chip cookies tonight and they're best when fresh."

"Cookies? I'll be there!"

They parted in front of Lucy's house. He waited until she went inside before continuing down the sidewalk on the way to Wendy's middle school, thinking about how to ask Minato about Lucy's situation.

He was thinking so hard that he didn't even notice the car bearing down on him until it was too late.


	12. Chapter 12

**Ugh, sorry for not updating in so long! I hit a point in time where I didn't feel like working on this, plus I had homework and school crap and stuff, but don't worry! I'm back!**

**Yay, Natsu is alright! You know, I kinda feel like I'm slowing down on this story after I revealed Kushina and Erza's past, but I still have Lucy's stuff... and a Christmas thing coming up that I probably should've posted on Christmas but meh, whatevs. Still, I'm glad I updated again, though I'll have to clean this story up one day. Too many mistakes and stuff. **

**Review, my pretties!**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

He was lying on clouds.

Yes, this softness must be clouds. Those fluffy ones that appear on sunny summer days and look like little cotton balls floating in the air.

If he was lying on clouds, then—

He cracked open his eyes. _Is this Heaven?_

It was certainly white enough. But instead of being greeted by angels or something, the harsh scents of disinfectants rushed into his nose and he grimaced, twisting stiffly and painfully in his bed, blinking to clear the stickiness from his eyes.

_Nope. Not Heaven_.

"Easy," someone said in a familiar masculine voice.

Natsu turned his head to see Minato standing by the windows next to his hospital bed. Outside it was sleeting, not a very nice day to wake up to, but at least he wasn't dead.

"What happened?" he croaked.

"You were hit by a car," the older boy said matter-of-factly. He reached forward as Natsu tried to sit up. "Don't. You broke two ribs and one of them nearly punctured your lung."

Groaning at the sudden pain, Natsu fell back against the now-lumpy pillow that no longer seemed so soft anymore. "Where's… Mom and Dad and Kushina and Wendy and… Luce?"

"Lucy, Wendy, and Kushina are in school. Igneel is handling insurance costs and Grandine's somewhere in the emergency room. She was here ten minutes ago, though. They and your friends have been visiting you every day for most of the week." There was a pause.

"Why are you here?" Natsu asked bluntly after a while.

Minato blinked. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No! It's just… I don't know. I don't think you like me a lot." He flushed and looked away.

Minato sighed. "It's not that I don't like you, Natsu."

"It's about what you won't tell me, right?"

"Yes."

There was silence, except for the sound of the frozen rain and the nurses and patients walking in the hallways and talking to one another. Minato and Natsu didn't look at each other and the awkwardness stretched and grew until—

"I was thinking about it, you know."

"When you were hit by the car?"

"Yeah."

Minato exhaled heavily. "You should've been concentrating more on your surroundings."

"I know, but you're not telling me something about Lucy!" Natsu said hotly. "I mean, you promised you'll tell me, but how can I be sure Lucy's safe if I don't know what I'm protecting her from?" He winced as his short speech caused his ribs to twinge and ache.

The silence was longer this time between them.

"You're right," Minato said eventually, his voice heavy and defeated. "But not now. No, don't look at me like that," he said, seeing Natsu turn to him furiously. "Rest and recover and then we'll talk."

With that, he turned and strode out of the room. A few minutes later, Igneel walked in, an overjoyed smile on his face as he saw that his son was awake.

Minato didn't return.

* * *

"You idiot," Lucy sighed after Natsu sheepishly told her the reason why he got hit by a car in the first place. "I did tell you to stop worrying over it."

"Yeah, but I really wanna know!" he pouted. "But don't worry, Minato said he's gonna tell me soon."

She looked at him, at this boy who was sitting in the hospital bed with his torso all wrapped up and his leg in a cast because of a fracture and a fat bandage around his head covering a thick scratch and she could feel her heart melting. "You still shouldn't have."

He grinned. "Do you have cookies?"

Rolling her eyes, Lucy passed him a plastic baggie stuffed with chocolate chip cookies. "When are you getting out of the hospital?" she asked.

"Mom says in a week. Or two. Or ten." Natsu grimaced. "She doesn't want to let me out until I'm completely fine."

"It's cold out so that's probably for the best."

"Yeah, but I wanna try out for the basketball team!" He pouted, crossing his arms.

"You're not trying out for any team with those ribs!" Grandine said firmly, marching into the room. "They're not going to heal for about two months."

"TWO MONTHS?" Natsu screeched before crying out with pain, cringing on his bed.

"Stupid boy," his mother snorted. "Try out next year."

"But I want to try out this year! Gray and I said we were gonna join!" he panted, sitting upright again.

Lucy shook her head. "You broke two ribs, Natsu. Tryouts just aren't gonna happen."

"If you wanted to try out you shouldn't have gotten hit in the first place." Grandine briefly checked her son's vitals before nodding and ruffling his head. "You can go back to school in a few days, but if I catch even a rumor that you're trying out for the team, you're back in this bed. Lucy will help, won't you?"

The girl nodded, beaming. Natsu groaned. "I hate girls. They're mean."

His comment earned him a somewhat gentle elbow to the ribs and a karate chop to his head. He sobbed with pain. "Stooooooopppppppp…"

Wendy scampered into the room at the sound of Natsu's cries. "What's happening to Natsu?" She stopped as she saw her mother and her neighbor glaring at her brother and decided she was better off not knowing.

"Wendy, sweetheart!" Grandine said, looking up and smiling brightly. "How was school today?"

"We learned about the ecosystem," she replied, plopping down on a chair. "But it was boring. I want to do the harder stuff, like what I can learn to be a doctor!"

"Does everyone in this family want to be a doctor?" Lucy asked, surprised. "I mean, Kushina wants to be a doctor, Wendy wants to be a doctor, you're a doctor, Natsu's godmother is a doctor…"

"It runs in the family, I guess," Grandine laughed. "Kushina, however, was influenced by me and Tsunade most of all. She and I used to talk about medical things all the time and Kushina would sit there listening and drinking it all in. It was adorable, seeing those big gray eyes watching us as we talked."

"But Natsu wants to be a firefighter like Dad!" Wendy chirped brightly.

"Firefighter? Why?" Lucy asked, turning to the boy. "I mean— you can be a police officer if you want. Why a firefighter?"

"Well, I wanted to build flamethrowers and bombs and stuff when I was younger," he said, frowning thoughtfully. "Uh…"

"Natsu was a pyromaniac when he was a child. Still is, too. Igneel taught him that instead of starting fires, he can learn how to put them out. It may not be as fun as lighting stuff up, but he can still be around what he loves," Grandine said.

"What she said," Natsu said, jerking his thumb towards the general direction of his mother.

Lucy laughed and shook her head. "It's a dangerous job, you know."

He seemed to brighten at that. "It doesn't scare me."

"He used to get into fights all the time. Still does, as a matter of fact," Grandine sighed. "He gets it from his father."

Natsu puffed his chest proudly. Lucy eyed the family with a twinge of sadness, wishing that her own mother and father were alive. Her phone chimed and she pulled it out to see that she'd gotten a text from Minato.

_Heard a blizzard is coming in. Get home safe and soon. Tell Grandine I'll bring Kushina home._

She looked up and saw that dark clouds were roiling in the sky and it had started to snow. "I better get home. Minato said a blizzard is coming in."

Grandine looked out the window and frowned. "Then we should go too. I'll give Kushina a call."

"Minato told me to tell you he's going to bring her home," Lucy said.

"Oh really, then tell him I said thank you," she said gratefully. "I'll go take care of some things. You guys stay here, alright?"

They nodded and Grandine disappeared out the door.

"I'm bored," Natsu complained. "I hate being stuck here."

"Read." Lucy dumped a pile of books on his bed. "It's useful."

Natsu wrinkled his nose. "Ugh. I'd rather be bored." At Lucy's glare, he quailed and gingerly picked one up. "I'll uh, give it a try."

"You better," she sniffed. "I tried picking out science fiction and fantasy that focuses on dragons and fighting. It took me a while since I had to do tons of research and some of them I had to read myself. I got 2, but I have more at home if you want them. I'm still reading through those."

The two Dragneel siblings stared at her. "Lucy, you're amazing," Natsu said, throwing his arm around her and hugging her tightly. "You're a great friend."

She blushed. "Uh, thanks." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled with embarrassment.

"I should do that," Wendy clenched her fists determinedly.

Natsu sweatdropped. "Uh, Lucy is enough."

The three continued to talk as they waited for Grandine as Lucy kept an eye on the worsening weather. Larger flakes were beginning to drift down and the sky was getting ever darker. The streets below were beginning to clutter as people hurried to get home.

Finally Grandine hurried back into the room, pulling a pen out of her long blue hair and letting the locks fall towards the small of her back. "We should go. It's snowing a bit more heavily and we live a good quarter-hour away."

Lucy and Wendy immediately began putting on jackets and scarves while Grandine went to give Natsu a quick hug and kiss, making him promise to call if anything happened and to be good to the nurses and doctors. He gruffly pushed her away and glumly watched as Lucy and his family bid him goodbye and left.

"I felt kind of bad for leaving him there," Lucy confessed. "He gets lonely a lot doesn't he?"

Grandine nodded. "Natsu was always the kind of child who can never be alone. In some ways that's his greatest fear." She laughed with amusement. "When he was younger he used to beg me for a sibling and when Wendy was born, he wouldn't leave her side for weeks."

"Jiraiya told me that when I was born, Minato was almost the same, except he wished I was a boy," Lucy said, laughing. "But he got over it."

Wendy listened with fascination. "I didn't know Natsu-nii did that. Stay by my side, I mean."

"We have some pictures if you want to see them."

The three exited the building, walking into the worsening snowstorm. Grandine led them to the parking lot, walking through rows of cars before reaching a white car. The car beeped to life as they approached and Lucy and Wendy climbed into the back.

As they pulled out of the parking lot, Grandine groaned at the amount of traffic. "This is going to take forever." She looked anxiously at the sky.

"We'll be fine, Mom," Wendy reassured her. "The hospital isn't far from our house."

"I'm more worried about your father," Grandine muttered. "That man can't cook to feed himself even if it kills him."

The two girls in the back exchanged amused looks. "Kushina can cook," Wendy said.

"With traffic like this, Minato would have trouble getting home too," Lucy said.

Grandine turned the heat up higher. "We'll get home soon, don't worry." She gave them a reassuring grin before turning her attention back to the road in front of her.


End file.
